Speaking some basic italiano is a great feeling.
You feel part of local life as you interact with Italians in cafés, restaurants, and markets.
But sooner or later (usually sooner!) that awkward moment comes… you don’t understand the reply and it throws you off.
Maybe you don’t know the words or there’s an unexpected cultural detail, or both.
There are 5 common Italian phrases that often confuse tourists in this way – we’ve seen the same ones frustrate our English friends many times!
Here, you’ll learn how to recognise them and how to respond, so you can communicate smoothly with Italians.
Psst! If you’d like more help having everyday conversations in Italian, our Online School is opening soon – click here to find out more.
1. One Moment, Please
Here’s a phrase you’ll hear all the time, for example, as your waiter prepares your table, or a shop assistant looks for something you asked about. But how do you say “one moment” in Italian? You might guess:
Un momento!
You’d be right, but there’s actually another word that Italians use really often. If you’re expecting to hear momento, it can throw you off. It’s…
Un attimo! – One moment!
Let’s learn the pronunciation and see the phrase in some example sentences:
| Un attimo | A moment / one moment | OON AT–TEE–MOH |
| Un attimo solo | Just a moment | OON AT–TEE–MOH SOH–LOH |
| Un attimo, per favore | One moment please | OON AT–TEE–MOH PER–FAH–VOH–REH |
| Un attimo, arrivo subito | One moment, I’ll be right there | OON AT–TEE–MOH AH–REE–VOH SOO–BEE–TOH |
Good to know
You might also hear the phrase arrivo subito on its own, which literally translates to:
Arrivo – I arrive
Subito – immediately/straight away
People in the service industry often use it to mean “I’ll be right there”.
2. How Do You Take Your Water? Fredda o Ambiente?
Italians don’t drink a lot of soft drinks, so when ordering with food, they often just have water. But ordering water isn't always as simple as it seems in Italy.
Once you’ve chosen naturale o gassata (still or sparkling), the waiter often asks another question you might not be expecting!
| Fredda o temperatura ambiente? | Cold or room temperature? (lit. cold or ambient temperature?) | FRED–DAH OH TEM–PER–AH–TOO–RAH AMB–YEN–TEH? |
To ask quickly, waiters often skip the word temperature and just say: fredda o ambiente?
Good to know
Italians pay a lot of attention to how temperature changes can affect their body and health (some might say too much!). This might be why waiters often give you the option of cold or room temperature water.
3. Paying the Bill… Conto Unico, Separato o Diviso?
When you’re about to pay the bill in Italian, you’ll often hear this question:
| Come volete pagare? | How would you like to pay? | KOM–MEH VOH–LEH–TEH PAH–GAH–REH? |
You might think they’re referring to card or cash, but actually, if you’re in a group, they first want to know who is paying for what. Here are the options:
| Conto unico | Whole bill | KON–TOH OOH–NEE–KOH |
| Conto diviso due/tre/quattro | Split the bill by 2/3/4 (total divided by the number of people dining) | KON–TOH DEE–VEE–SOH |
| Conto separato | Separate bill (everyone pays for their order) | KON–TOH SEH–PAH–RAH–TOH |
Good to know
When Italians dine in groups, they usually split the bill by the number of people dining (conto diviso 2/3/4…). If they ordered things at significantly different prices, they might each pay for their order (conto separato).
When Italians split the bill, they sometimes call it pagare alla romana – literally “paying Roman style”!
4. Out Shopping… Vuole Un Sacchetto?
When you go shopping in Italy, you can get by with a lot of pointing and smiling. But when the shop assistant starts putting your purchases through the till, they ask a question that a lot of tourists don’t understand. It’s usually:
| Vuole un sacchetto? | Would you like a bag? | VWOH–LEH OON SAK–KET–TOH |
The standard word for “shopping bag” is sacchetto, but it can change depending on the region you’re in, so you can listen out for these words, too:
| Una busta | OO–NAH BOOS–TAH |
| Una sportina | OO–NAH SPOR–TEE–NAH |
5. You’ve Got Your Ticket… But did You “Validate” It?
If you’re travelling on local trains, buses and trams in Italy, there’s something important you need to know. You must remember to…
| Convalidare il biglietto | “Validate” the ticket | KON–VAH–LEE–DAH–REH EEL BEE–YLEH–TOH |
In the train station, this means stamping your ticket with the time and date at one of the machines before you get on the train. For buses and trams, you can usually find the little machine once you get on.
Good to know
For travellers who don’t know this rule, the consequences can be much worse than feeling confused… you might also get a fine!
Not (Just) a Tourist Festival: Join Our Online Italian School!
If you like to feel part of the local life when you’re travelling in Italy, you might really enjoy our Not (Just) a Tourist Festival on Sept 13-14, 2024. It’s available to all members of our Online Italian School, with workshops where you can discover things like:
-
Dos and don’ts for travelling in Italy
-
Gestures and colloquial phrases for everyday conversations
-
How to understand what Italians say to you
You'll learn Italian phrases and cultural knowledge to help you navigate Italy like a local. You know, the ones you don’t usually find in textbooks 😉
Doors are opening very soon, click here to find out more about our Online Italian School .
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: Before we get started, we wanted to let you know that registration for our Online Italian School is opening in a few days. Places tend to sell out quickly, so if you’d like us to notify you when doors open, click the link in the description.
K: So when you’re trying to speak Italian as you go about your day, you might hear a few unexpected replies and phrases that can throw you off your stride!
M: The first is… “one moment”. You’ll hear this expression all the time in Italy, for example when a waiter is getting your table ready, or a shopkeeper goes to get something for you.
K: How do you say “one moment” in Italian? You might think that it’s un momento (x2), and you’d be right. But there’s another, lesser known expression Italians use all the time. It can be confusing if you’ve never heard it.
M: Un attimo (x2)
K: You’ll often hear this with “just”, in this case solo. Italians add it to the end. Just a moment:
M: Un attimo solo (x2)
K: Next, let’s imagine you’re at a bar or restaurant, and you order a bottle of water. Waiters always ask you the classic question: still or sparkling?
M: Naturale o gassata? (x2)
K: You might already be expecting that question. But then you’re sometimes asked another one, which can be confusing if you’ve never heard it before.
M: Fredda o temperatura ambiente? (x2) – Cold or room temperature? Literally:
Fredda – cold
O – Or
Temperatura – temperature
Ambiente – ambient
K: Temperatura ambiente means “room temperature” in Italian. Why do Italians have this option?
M: Maybe because the weather gets very hot, we care a lot about how sudden temperature changes can affect our body. Probably too much and people sometimes laugh at us for this! But some Italians prefer to drink room temperature water, to avoid having a shock to the system. Or in winter, they might not want very cold water, when it’s already cold.
K: Then, if you’re dining with other people, when it comes to paying the bill, there’s another confusing question:
M: Come volete pagare? (x2)
K: How would you like to pay?
M:
Come – how
Volete – you want, in this case, the plural you, to two or more people = volete.
Pagare – to pay
K: You might assume this question is about card or cash, carta o contanti (x2). But first, they want to know who is paying for what. If one person is paying for everyone, you can ask for one bill. To say this in Italian, we say:
M: Conto unico (x2)
K: Literally “bill” (conto) “unique” (unico). Kind of makes sense. One bill, again, is:
M: Conto unico.
K: If you decide to split the bill, there are two ways to do this. Italians usually divide it equally between everyone. Literally “bill divided”, conto diviso (x2) plus the number of people. So if there are two of you:
M: Conto diviso due
K: If there are three of you:
M: Conto diviso tre
K: You can also ask to separate the bill based on what everyone had. Literally “bill separate”
M: Conto separato (x2)
K: After lunch, you go shopping…
M: Or SCIOP–PING as Italians say it!
K: You can usually get quite far by pointing, smiling and looking at prices on the labels.
But when the shop assistant is putting your purchases through, there’s one question that seems to come out of nowhere:
M: Vuole un sacchetto? – Would you like a bag?
Vuole – You like, in the formal address
Un – A
Sacchetto – bag
M: Vuole un sacchetto? (x2)
K: Finally, if you’re getting the train, there’s one more confusing, but very important phrase to watch out for! For local, short-distance trains you might buy a ticket from the ticket office or machine, then get straight on the train…
M: Nooo, don’t do it! First, you have to convalidare il biglietto (x2).
K: Literally “Validate the ticket”
M:
Convalidare – Validate
Il – The
Biglietto – Ticket
K: This means to stamp it with the time and date at one of the machines on the wall, before you get on the train. For buses and trams, there’s often a little machine onboard.
M: For travellers who don’t know about this, the consequences can be much worse than feeling confused… you might also get a fine!
K: Let’s review our 5 phrases again, to help you communicate smoothly and blend in with Italians. The first is another way of saying “a moment”
[...]
M: Un attimo (x2)
K: Then after you’ve asked for still or sparkling water, the waiter sometimes asks another question. Cold or room temperature?
M: Fredda o temperatura ambiente? (x2)
K: When you’re ready to pay the bill, the waiter might want to know “how would you like to pay?”.
M: Come volete pagare? (x2)
K: If someone pays the whole bill, we literally say “bill unique”:
[...]
M: Conto unico
K: Split evenly by the number of people. Literally bill divided. Let’s say bill divided by 4:
[...]
M: Conto diviso quattro (x2)
K: Or everyone pays for what they had, literally “bill separate”
M: Conto separato (x2)
K: When shopping, a question that often throws people is “would you like a bag”?
M: Vuole un sacchetto? (x2)
K: Finally, a phrase with serious consequences if you don’t understand it! For local trains, you need to stamp your ticket before you get on. In Italian, this is called “to validate the ticket”
[...]
M: Convalidare il biglietto (x2)
K: To communicate smoothly with the locals in Italy, it’s important to focus on everyday language and cultural nuances like these. Sometimes they’ll help you stay out of trouble, for example, avoiding a fine, and other times they’ll help you enjoy doing and saying things just like Italians do.
M: If you like to feel part of the local life when you’re travelling in Italy, you might really enjoy our Not (Just) a Tourist Festival on Sept 13-14, 2024. You'll learn Italian phrases and cultural knowledge to help you navigate Italy just like we do. We’ll be sharing the important stuff you don’t usually find in textbooks!
K: There will be fun workshops where you’ll learn things like:
– Dos and don’ts for travelling in Italy
– Gestures and colloquial phrases for everyday conversations
– And how to understand what Italians say back to you, so you can keep the conversation going.
M: The event is available to all members of our Online Italian School, and registrations are opening soon! Places tend to sell out in just a couple of days, so if you think you might like to join us, click the link in the description and we’ll send you a reminder so you don’t miss out.
K: Or you can go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/join . We’d love to see you there!
M - See you next time.
K - Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: 5 Common Italian Phrases
Vocabulary
Un attimo = One moment (un a…)
Un attimo solo = Just one moment (un a…)
Fredda o temperatura ambiente? = Cold or room temperature? (for water)
Come volete pagare? = How would you (all/both) like to pay?
Conto unico = Whole bill
Conto diviso = Divided bill (split evenly by the number of people)
Conto separato = Separate bill
Vuole un sacchetto? = Would you like a bag?
Convalidare il biglietto = Validate the ticket
Flashcards: 5 Common Italian Phrases
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
